NEW DELHI: Even as the had government claimed that coal production has increased in the past few months, the Coal Consumers’ Association of India (CCAI) on Tuesday said they are compelled to buy the fuel at high prices just to keep their plants running.
CCAI, in a letter to coal minister Prahald Joshi, sought government’s intervention in providing relief to the beleaguered coal buyers, as many of them are compelled to idle their captive power plants due to insufficient supplies. “The average bid price of coal in a recently conducted spot e-auction by MCL (Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd) rose as high as 800% above the notified price. It is evident that some of MCL’s valuable customers are compelled to procure coal at such abysmally high premiums only for sustenance of their plants,” reads the CCAI letter.
The soaring bid prices, CCAI complained, had prevented many industries from participating in the auction. They are now resorted to drawing expensive power from the exchange while nearly idling their captive plants, consequently increasing electricity demand and tariffs further.
Meanwhile, the government claimed there was no shortage of coal in the country, in fact, the production went up in the past few months. According to the ministry, total coal output raised to 33.94 million tonnes (MT), achieving a growth of 36.23% over the output of 24.91 MT during the same period last year.